Category: Uncategorized

We had a hands on evening with 2 lathes set up manned by Roger Gilbert and Geoff Warr who guided and instructed several of our members and guests in the art of turning. Mick Denton also ran a separate forum on sharpening tools. All 3 were kept fully occupied and overall the evening proved to be a success with most people gaining some insight in our hobby.

The evenings demonstration was done by Ian George who set out to make a Christmas tree decoration that looked like an inside out turned item but wasn’t. He started with a block of wood and drilled holes through 2 sides using a forstener bit.

These holes made the “windows” of the ornament. The last face was drilled with a hole to suit the tenon in the finials. The block was turned to round and shaped and finials then created to make the final article. For the remaining time of the evening Ian made a snowman with a top hat. All very impressive, the only problem is that no photo’s of the items were taken. Sorry about that.

The November competition table was full with many varied and excellent items.

3rd place went to Dave Simms with his 3 piece band.

2nd place went to Roger Gilbert with his 3 cornered bowl.

There was a joint first place with Ken Garratt’s piggy bank and Colin Humphries table skittles game.

The evening demonstration was undertaken by Bryan Brumfield who made a bowl from a piece of sycamore. The outside of the bowl was completed, sanded and finished in the usual manner. The main focus of the demonstration was to show the use of colour on the rim of the bowl inspired by the work of people such as Mick Hanbury. This part was turned flat then sanded to 240 grit to allow a key for the paint to adhere to. The whole of the top surface was ebonised (spray painted with black colour) and dried using a hair dryer. (Not sure his wife knew it was missing though). Once thoroughly dry 3 “Jo Sonja” iridescent colours were mixed with flow medium and daubed quite thickly onto the black surface in random patterns.

A piece of clingfilm was then place over the paint while it was still wet and was then moved randomly around to produce pleasing colour mix and texture effect. The hair dryer was again employed to dry the paints off. In its wet state it looked white but as it dried the iridescence against the black background started to show. Once fully dry the bowl section was turned out and sanded and finished. The whole bowl was then sprayed with clear acrylic lacquer to give a very impressive result.

It was a very entertaining and inspiring evening.

The demonstrator for the evening was Ken Garratt. During his previous demo he showed some principles of turning green (wet) wood to allow it to dry quicker. This demo is a follow on from that, taking a box blank which was now dry through to a finished box.

The October competition was also run with the table having a nice selection of projects on show.

The results were

1st Geoff Warr with his elephant ornament

2nd Roger Gilbert with a spalted beech shallow dish

3rd Dave Simms with a little box in the form of an acorn on a stand

 

The evenings demonstration was done by Dave Simms with a stylish clock made in several pieces and then assembled.

The first item to be made was the outer ring which was turned out of a bowl blank. The holes for the pins were drilled before finalising the ring dimensions to ensure that the ring did not split or the holes breaking out. The clock housing piece was created from the stub left by the outer ring. Each were turned to a finish and sized such that they left a gap of 13mm. 

Dave then turned the spacer pieces which were drilled to accept 7mm brass pen tubes which act as the support / bearing sections. The end pieces are turned in the same way and a base section turned to support the whole lot. This was then assembled to produce the clock, so overall the evening was of great interest and shows what can be done with a little imagination and ingenuity.

 The September competition table was well subscribed this evening with a varied mix of projects all of which had their merits.

First place went to the mouse by Bob Green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Place went to a cat (there seems to be a theme appearing here) by Geoff Warr.

Third place was a Zebrano bowl by Peter Stanton.

 

The evening demonstration was done by Roger Gilbert who stood in for Richard Coleman who is currently unwell, so our wishes go to him and trust you have a speedy recovery. Roger set about demonstrating the making of a table lamp using the inside out turning technique.

This is where 4 square pieces of wood are temporarily joined together with a paper glue joiint and turned to shape. The joints are then opened and the pieces rearranged at 180 degrees to each other and the glued back together. The blank was previously prepared as the glue must be fully cured and this enabled Roger to complete the form to its final shape.

The final result is a “see through” spindle to make the vertical element of the lamp.

   

The top and bottom solid sections were drilled to accept a brass tube through which the flex would run.

Roger then turned the base and married the 2 pieces together with appropriate holes for the flex to be run to place.

This was an entertaining demonstration which showed a technical piece of turning and construction to best effect.

The evening was a demonstration of rough turning by Ken Garratt. A couple of box blanks were turned ready for drying and after the break a natural edge dish made from branch wood from a Bay tree. The evening finished with a rough turned vase from Laburnum.

Unfortunately the details and results for the August competition were not noted by me at the time. This will be  published when available.

The evening was hosted as a demonstration from one our members, Adrian Finch, who introduced his project as a quaich. This is a traditional Scottish celebratory drinking vessel with 2 handles to allow the drink to be passed around the group. (Unfortunately Adrian did not supply any whisky to pass around).

The project was to create a bowl with a wide brim which is then partially cut away to leave 2 small handles . Sounds simple but was tricky to complete, however, Adrian managed this with great skill even with all of the light hearted heckling and barracking from some of the audience.

                                         

Overall a very entertaining and educational evening and we would hope that it gives some inspiration to the people there. Maybe we will get some quaich’s put in for the August competition table. 

 

This evening was the first installment of a 2 part demonstration by David Simms over 2 consecutive meetings. David is well known for his creation of watch fobs and clock and the first demonstration showed the making of a fob watch with stand. David used Acer for the fob surround and the stand base with oak for the spindle. 

This entailed a high degree of accuracy in machining the clock insert mortice and the mortice and tenon for the base (although the sizing on the night was a little tight).

The end product though was a very elegant assembly, as shown in the centre of the group on the photo below.

David started his project for the next meeting which is the hinged lid box clock which is back left on the photo. This should prove to be of real interest as the accuracy of machining will be paramount.

The evening demonstration was done by Geoff Warr who showed us how he makes a set of coasters with a plywood basket weave pattern insert.

The insert was pre-prepared by gluing the plywood strips together then turning them to round. The body of the coaster was made from a piece of ash by creating a recess for the insert then gluing it to place. It was then skimmed flat and sanded to finish and was then parted off.

However, this was not so successful as Geoff was using a club chuck and his tenon was set for his own chuck. The workpiece was not held securely and came out of the chuck. Unluckily for Geoff the incident was caught on camera, but thankfully no one was injured.

This just goes to show even the best turners have problems and you should always make sure you size the tenon correctly to the chuck jaws.

Geoff went on to make the holder for the coasters by ran out of time before it could be finished. Even so it was an entertaining and insightful demonstration giving most of us ideas for our future projects.

The June competition table produced some lovely work and the first place went to David Hartley with his 3 legged table.

Second place went to Geoff Warr for his set of coasters.

Third place was a 3 way tie with Bob Green and his deep bowl, Roger Gilbert with the small square bowl and Dave Simms with his clock and stand in a beautiful piece of snakewood.